We need not walk alone. We are the Compassionate Friends. We reach out to each other with love, with understanding and with hope.

Our children have died at all ages and from many different causes, but our love for our children unites us. Your pain becomes my pain just as your hope becomes my hope. We come together from all walks of life, from many different circumstances. We are a unique family because we represent many races and creeds.

We are young, and we are old. Some of us are far along in our grief, but others still feel a grief so fresh and so intensely painful that we feel helpless and see no hope. Some of us have found our faith to be a source of strength, some of us are struggling to find answers. Som eof us are angry, filled with guilt or in deep depression; others radiate an inner peace. But whatever pain we bring to this gathering of the Compassionate Friends, it is pain we will share just as we share with each other our love for our children.

We are all seeking and struggling to build a future for ourselves, but we are committed to building that future together as we reach out to each othe rin love and share the pain as well as the joy, share the anger as well as the peace, share the faith as well as the doubts and help each other to grieve as well as to grow. We need not walk alone.

We are The

Compassionate Friends.

The Compassionate Friends

Supporting Family After a Child Dies

When a child has died, the whole world seems to be shrouded with darkness. Without that child, life becomes very different and difficult to navigate. Whether experiencing excruciating, raw emotional pain or debilitating numbness -- the journey of grief is a marathon, not a sprint.

The Morongo Basin Chapter of The Compassionate Friends invites you to consider using this monthly support meeting to help you manage your own, unique journey. You will meet new friends who understand your pain because they have experienced it, too; and, you will find practical help on how to deal with grief and progress toward recovery. Parents of all ages who have lost a child of any age are welcome.

The group meets monthly on the second Wednesday of each month, at 4:30 p.m., in the Helen Gray Education Center located on the medical center campus.

For more information about this support group, you may contact Kristin Martin, chapter leader at 760/250-7295.

for information about the national organization of The Compassionate Friends